Overall what I'm trying to say is that this was a good movie. I would watch more of this film series if DC came out with more, which I hope they do. However, to make this a great series or movie I think they need to animate it slightly better just to have more emotions on the characters but stick with the overall comic book feel. Also, the actors could emphasize things somewhat more so that it feels as if they are struggling or having a hard time. Doing that will also people to be more immersed in the film and not just listening to words and looking at a screen.
“To stop a devil, you much summon a bigger one,” If that isn’t a true statement I’m not sure what is. Constantine: City of Demons previously a ten-part mini-series was quite an enjoyable movie. The film has many twists and turn but left some of the emotional sides out. It is hard to not like a movie where the good guy wins but at what cost are you willing to go for it. The animation aspects of the film were pretty spot on for what they were going for and the voice acting in the movie was pretty good also. So, what really makes this movie so good? I’m glad you asked, let’s find out below.
As I previously mentioned this movie was originally a ten-part animated series. Fortunately, the movie was no different. I would like to take a moment to talk about how well the editors took the series and put it into one film. Several of the major scenes you could tell left on a cliffhanger and faded to black. Just enough of a glimpse to keep you coming back the next week. However, the movie flowed really well and didn’t make you want to pull your hair out because the commercial break cuts were still in the film. The film did a great job of making sure that only at the end of a full episode did it really cut, fade to black and start off the next chapter or story sequence.
One aspect of this movie that I really enjoyed was that the film felt somewhat like a comic in both animation and shots. This isn’t to be taken negatively because it played great into how this movie was written, animated and portrayed. At one point this plot was probably in the comics, however, bringing this comic to life did great justice to the comics. I enjoyed how each scene felt as if someone was reading the comic to me. The animations and characters looked as if I had imagined them and they were drawn for me. It played really well into the whole demon hunting theme. One of the parts that reminds me most of a comic is all of the action shots of lighting a cigarette. Every time I saw this, I couldn’t help but think about a comic book. Most of the movie is set in dark Los Angeles or Gloomy London. Early on you get an excellent feel for the struggles that are about to be sprung on you, just from the mood set by the cities.
This dark feeling of the cities really does an appropriate job of letting you know early on that this will be no smooth ride. For John Constantine, you see early on that thought-out his life he has been struggling with his powers. At one point he spends time in a mental health facility and now how personal demons to deal with. I mean that on both a psychological and physical level. Constantine was played by Matt Ryan, and he did a hell of a job. My only complaint might not even be with Matt Ryan or the other actors but maybe with the animators. Something about this movie felt a little off. You could tell that there was plenty of emotion throughout the whole film. Especially, with all the struggles that they are facing, that being said, the emotion and tone were not felt. It did take away from some of the movies but not enough to make me not want to watch it.
As for the other actors, it was about the same. Out of all of the people in the movie. The mother of the girl they are trying to save, Renne Chandler played by Emily O’Brien, she had the most difficult part playing the mother of a girl in a coma. She played this with the best emotions she could though only voice acting, and I would say she had the best performance doing so. She didn’t have many lines, but she made them believable and really felt like she was experiencing this terrible thing. As far as the other actors were concerned it was a good performance, nothing stood out that would win an Emmy or Grammy, depending on the format.
Overall what I’m trying to say is that this was a good movie. I would watch more of this film series if DC came out with more, which I hope they do. However, to make this a great series or movie I think they need to animate it slightly better just to have more emotions on the characters but stick with the overall comic book feel. Also, the actors could emphasize things somewhat more so that it feels as if they are struggling or having a hard time. Doing that will also people to be more immersed in the film and not just listening to words and looking at a screen.
